


Sky and Sea

by Bluestem



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Birds, Familiars, Gen, M/M, Nature Is Beautiful, Nature is Brutal, One Shot, Vesuvia, Walks On The Beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 11:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15169505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluestem/pseuds/Bluestem
Summary: Asra and Tytos share an early morning walk about Vesuvia's bay, and happen upon an unexpected presence.





	Sky and Sea

Asra and I stroll through pearly mist, the waves lapping softly about our ankles before receding with a breath. The beach is silent but for the sighing of the sea and the soft cries of gulls and terns. The rising sun shines like an opal in a washed sky, and the breeze off the sea opens my lungs with a fresh, new energy. Asra’s fingers tickle against my own, and I smile down at him. 

His white hair fades into the mist until he seems made of clouds and earth, the amethyst of his eyes sparkling with an easy happiness that warms my heart. I incline my head, kissing him softly.

It’s so nice, so calming to walk with him before the city wakes, before the ships and noise start up; soft sand slipping between my toes, cool water rushing past my calves. Ever since the destruction of Lucio’s spirit and the banishing of the council, Vesuvia has flourished, and I’ve felt so at peace. But even if none of that had come to pass, I would still be more content than I have ever been in my life...because I have Asra, and he has me.

He grins up at me as we continue our walk about the bay. “What’re you thinking?”

I playfully nudge his shoulder with mine. “Nothing.”

“Uh huh.” He arches a brow. “I know  that smile.”

I wink at him and he laughs.

“That’s what I thought.” He scrunches up his nose in a way that I absolutely love. It makes him look like a pixie.

“But that’s not  _ all  _ was thinking.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh huh. I was  _ also  _ thinking that I love you so much I could explode, and that all of this,” I wave our clasped hands towards the rising sun and the opalescent sea, “is absolutely perfect.” I smile brightly at him, and his face softens.

“I think it’s perfect too, but mostly I think  _ this  _ is perfect.” He frees his hand from mine and wraps it around my waist with a squeeze. “I love you, Tytos. But don’t explode, okay?”

“I make no promises.”

A gull cries overhead and I think nothing of it before a cacophony of screeches and shrieks erupts; the birds must be fighting over a prize--a dead fish, a crust of bread, or something like that. And then a voice sparks into my ears, high and terrified.

_ Help! Help help help! _ __  
__  
I jolt, my spine ramrod straight and eyes wide. I know I heard something...but how? There’s no one else on the beach but Asra and I. So where…?  Asra starts and looks at me with concern. “Tytos? What is it?”

I flutter my hand in a shushing movement, one ear cocked towards I’m not sure what.

_ Help! Help! _

I splash out of the surf towards the mass of flapping, screaming gulls with Asra hot on my heels. The voice is coming from here. I barrel into the mob with a yell, and the gulls explode into indignant flight. One takes wing with a struggling baby bird clamped within it’s wedge shaped bill, and as I watch another gull grabs the hatchling by the leg, pulling it in half. My heart sinks; even though it is simply nature doing as she must for all of her beings, it’s not an easy thing to witness. For a moment, I stand defeated and rather shocked. I was certain I’d heard a voice, and...if it was that chick…

“Tytos,” Asra joins me, panting, “what in the world?”

_ Help! _

I start, and stare down at the pebbly beach. At my feet, shivering, and expertly camouflaged is another chick, a huddled mass of speckled fluff. I look into it’s wide, black eyes, feeling it’s terror as if it were my own and my heart leaps into frenzied action. My palms sweat and pupils dilate as something bone deep and elemental passes between us like electricity. Goosebumps spring up and down my arms as I slowly kneel and reach a quivering arm out for the chick. A little flame lights up as I study it, sea green and moon pale; it’s aura.

It stands on spindly legs and wobbles to my outstretched fingers.

“It’s alright,” I say in as soothing a voice as I can manage through my shaking, “I won’t hurt you.”

_ Help?  _ The chick cocks it’s cotton-ball head. It lifts a bright orange foot hardly larger than my fingernail and steps onto the palm of my hand, and at that contact something between us syncs so that I know this little being’s new soul, and he knows me to the depths of mine, and each breath that we draw, we draw now together. Our auras ripple and merge, sunset copper, pink, and purple into sea green and moonlit white. We fall effortlessly into place. He settles contentedly within my palm as if my hand were the nest he’d been waiting for. I cup the little chick to my chest, only to find that tears are running down my cheeks. My wide eyes dart to Asra’s and the look of dawning comprehension and joy upon his face only furthers my own amazement.

“It--it’s finally happened, hasn’t it?” Asra gasps, joining me on the sand with shining eyes.

I gulp, unable to speak, but I manage a watery nod.  “I heard him,” I say at last. “l-like Faust. In my mind.”

“Oh, Tytos!” Asra hugs me to him, the life-force of the little chick beating between us like a heart. He kisses my cheek, and I’m surprised to find that he’s crying now too, tears of pride and understanding; he knows how long I’ve ached for my familiar to come into my life, and he understands the intensity of the bond that's taking my breath away. The chick is warm in my hand. In that moment, with the two of them surrounding me like the sky and sea, I am absolutely whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this little one-shot. I haven't been feeling very creative lately, but The Arcana always manages to stoke those flames. I love Asra so much, I can't even explain it, and my guy Tytos is an absolute sweetheart. His familiar is a common tern that he eventually names Pascal. I plan on doing some artwork of them, someday. :> I shall give them all the good things. If you enjoyed, please let me know! Comments make my day.


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